2025 was a successful year for the Customs Agency, as we provided significant revenues and played an important role in filling the Budget. “The results we have achieved are visible and measurable, but more can always be done,” said Boban Nikolovski, Director of the Customs Agency, in an interview with “Republika”.
Nikolovski says that he is satisfied with the revenues collected in the past year, which provide more funds for health, education, and road and railway infrastructure.
In 2025, the Customs Administration collected revenue of 131.6 billion denars or 2.14 billion EUR, which represents an increase of 5.2% or 105 million EUR more compared to 2024. Growth was recorded on all bases, with customs revenues recording an increase of 15.5%, motor vehicle tax receips were up by 12.5%, excise duty by 5.9% and VAT on imports by 3.2%. As the Customs administration, we have a continuous increase in revenues in the budget, but also an increase in operational results in customs procedures. This is not a coincidence. This is the result of daily hard work, professionalism and dedication. We can always do better. We surpassed the results achieved by the previous SDSM government without major difficulties, considering that we found a devastated Customs Agency. We also improved the relationship with businessmen, transporters and all other participants in the customs procedure,” says Nikolovski.
What about the customs rates on used cars? Has the import of old vehicles been reduced?
Nikolovski: In 2024, a 55 percent increase in the import of new and used hybrid and electric vehicles was recorded. The number of new hybrid vehicles increased by 36 percent. This contributes to the percentage growth of non-polluting vehicles and we hope that as their production grows, more of them will be imported because ecology is our priority. Regarding the import of used vehicles, in the past period, the Customs Administration has focused on preventing crime with these vehicles, which results in increased collection of revenues from vehicle imports. Our strengthened investigations were also the reason for the increased collection of duties on vehicle imports. As of November, on this basis, 11.3 billion denars were collected, i.e. one billion more than the previous year or 11 percent more.
Recently, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime donated new equipment to scan shipments in order to prevent the smuggling of weapons and drugs.
Nikolovski: The very existence of such an X-ray scanner also acts as a deterrent to criminals, as evidenced by the fact that since its installation, no attempts to smuggle dangerous substances have been detected. With a capacity to scan hundreds of shipments per minute using artificial intelligence, the scanner installed at the postal customs office will help detect firearms, their parts and ammunition, drugs and explosives. In this way, the services will be directed to perform timely and precise checks of suspicious shipments.
A new analysis system was recently promoted, a grant from South Korea. What does this mean for the Customs?
Nikolovski: Digitalization is an inevitable process – it speeds up customs procedures and provides less room for error. The risk analysis and data warehouse system that we implemented with a grant from the Republic of Korea integrates all data on all imports, exports, transit, data on excise goods, the entire record of seizures, misdemeanor and criminal charges, where they are analyzed with the support of advanced artificial intelligence. At the same time, it provides data on shipments whose values are different from market prices, but also when those values are below average, which alerts customs officers to inspect containers with such shipments, in order to determine and prevent attempts at customs fraud.
You also received two customs dogs as a donation, are you already including them in the controls?
Nikolovski: They are excellently trained dogs. The director of the Korean Customs noted that one of them is a real star, because significant seizures have been recorded in the Republic of Korea due to his merit. Together with another dog from the K9 unit, they recently participated in the detection of ten kilograms of cocaine.
You were recently in Brussels where you spoke about the so-called green ribbons. What are they about?
Nikolovski: This means that we, as the Customs Agency, and the border services of our neighbor, namely Greece and Bulgaria, which are members of the EU, enable the unhindered flow of goods, as a key to increasing the competitiveness of Macedonian companies. In this way, we build trust between the two customs services.
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